Bus Video: A Versatile Tool

School bus operators use video surveillance systems to resolve disputes and as sources of evidence in accidents or onboard incidents. Some are also using video in training drivers and recovering the costs of vandalism.

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Seon’s new Trooper TL digital video recorder is 55 percent smaller than the previous generation and is available in two- and four-channel models.

Making an upgradeWhen switching to a new video system, Steven Spraggs, director of transportation for Paducah (Ky.) Public Schools, says he was looking for additional coverage and color cameras instead of black and white. After testing a system from Fortress Systems International (FSI), Spraggs decided to go with the company's four-camera system, which monitors the stairwell, the interior of the cabin and the roadway ahead of the bus. The forward-looking camera helped Spraggs confirm bus whereabouts in a recent incident reported by a parent. "We had [a driver] go in a place they shouldn't have been, and had it not been for that particular camera, we might not have been able to see that. We were able to detect that and stop it from happening anymore."

The FSI system also provides speed and GPS location, and features an event marker function, making it easy to review footage from a specific incident. The company also offers a real-time streaming video system with active GPS that includes a covert panic button for drivers to send a distress signal for help.

In addition to providing the means to defend drivers' actions on the bus or determining fault in an accident, video footage can help identify students who have misbehaved. "We may not be able to identify the students because they're new on the bus," says Kathy Houck, director of transportation at Reynolds School District in Fairview, Ore. "Maybe they've caused an issue and we want to write a referral. We can print a still of that child unloading, which gives a good visual of the face, and send that to the school so that they know who we're talking about."

When reviewing footage from Apollo’s RoadRunner digital video recorder, users can match the video to a synchronized map and vehicle speed graph.

Bill Wagner, transportation assistant supervisor at the district, says Apollo Video Technology's equipment (the RoadRunner digital video recorder, or DVR) is durable enough to handle the rough environment on a bus. He also values the system's security. "Basically, if anyone got a hold of it, they could not retrieve anything off of it without the proper software to access that information."

Houck says that although they only have one Apollo camera on each bus now, as they purchase new buses, they hope to add a second camera to monitor the driver area and bus entrance.

Ken Morosko, fleet technician supervisor at Baltimore County Public Schools in Towson, Md., is also planning to increase the number of cameras on buses as new vehicles are purchased, due in part to the rising height of school bus seatbacks. He chose Seon Design Inc.'s Trooper DVR over other systems because of its simplicity, adjustability and the picture quality it provided.

In addition, answers to his questions are never far away, as he says Seon's service is "the best I've seen in 30 years in this field, dealing with any vendor. If I need a question answered, there's a go-to guy — I've got his cell number, email, and even if I get a voicemail, I get an answer in 30 minutes."

Video footage captured by the system was instrumental in verifying that a bus driver and attendant followed procedure during a bus crash last year when a boat began to come off its trailer, Morosko says. "You could see from the video looking backwards following the road and the sidewalk, our driver tried to avoid it because she saw it coming," he explains. "I gave [the video] to uur director because it demonstrated how the attendant and the driver both reacted. They first made sure the students were OK, and then they proceeded to call our office as they should."

At Orange County Public Schools in Orlando, Fla., Director of Operations Support Arby Creach says he chose Seon because the company provided schematics and parts allowing the district's shop staff to make repairs to the video equipment after the warranty ran out. "The competitor refused to sell me parts so I could do my own repairs, at my costs and on my time," he says.

With a fleet of 1,500 buses and about 900 video systems installed, Creach says drivers practically refuse to drive a bus if it doesn't have a camera on board. "It makes the decision-making process very simple and ensures that justice is done," he says. The district recently provided video footage to law enforcement after a student brought a weapon on board a bus, then threw it out the window after the driver called for help. "They were able to exactly identify the point at which he dropped the weapon, go back and recover the weapon, and charge the student," he says.

Orange County is also piloting a Seon system that allows area managers to connect wirelessly via Bluetooth and view live bus video from within 300 feet of the vehicle. "We basically create a mini hotspot," Creach says.

School bus operations that select Safety Vision's RouteRecorder system value the option to record and playback simultaneously. The system's viewer software includes a synchronized map to show the vehicle's GPS location during playback.

Accident investigationShop Supervisor George Davis, of Fayette County (Ga.) Schools' transportation department, says one of the biggest uses for the 247Security Inc. video systems installed on the district's buses is in accident investigation. "I'm also chairman of the accident review committee, and it allows me to go back and see, was the driver at fault or was the other person at fault?" he says. "It's the No. 1 tool I use, particularly when it's a bus-against-bus situation in a parking lot or when we find damage that was not reported."

Davis also finds the system's Mini-TRACK passive GPS feature of particular value, because there are no ongoing costs associated with cellular service, as is required with active — or real-time — GPS systems.

"I've yet to find anyone who has the manpower or the time to actually look at real-time GPS," Davis says. "Typically when someone calls in an incident, the route's pretty much over by the time you get that call anyway. And by the time you're able to address it, it's after the fact."

With the passive GPS system, Davis is still able to access bus speed, location and routing information in order to address any incidents requiring that information.

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